By IANS
London : Oscar Pistorius, the 21-year-old South African double amputee barred by International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) from competing in the Beijing Olympics, has vowed to fight the ban, it was reported by the English media here Tuesday.
According to a report in the Times, Pistorius, whose legs were amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old because he was born without fibulae, had condemned the report, which concluded that the carbon-fibre Cheetah Flex-Foot prosthetics used by the runner gave him a significant advantage over able-bodied runners.
Pistorius criticised the report as “premature and highly subjective” and has pledged to continue fighting to realise his dream of competing in the Olympics. A downcast Pistorius, who won gold and bronze at the 2004 Athens Paralympics, denied after the announcement of the ban that the sickle-like blades gave him “an unfair advantage”.
The young South African’s Olympics hopes had first received a blow last December when Peter Bruggman at the German Sport University in Cologne, who was the man in charge of testing him, told German newspapers that prosthetic blades had given Pistorious “a considerable advantage” over his able-bodied competitors who had undergone the same test.
The findings have been unanimously endorsed by the IAAF ruling council, which said that Pistorius should not be allowed to run in Beijing Olympics.
Pistorius is a hero to many in sports crazy South Africa. In disabled athletics he is a world record-holder for the 100 metres, 200 metres and 400 metres. Last year he won a silver medal in the 400 metres competing against able-bodied runners at the South African Championships. His personal best of 46.34 seconds would have won gold at every Olympic Games before 1932.